19. The book has adoption potential in schools or universities.

20. The house has published similar books with success.

21. The book is on a subject that house has or wants to build a list in.

22. Overcome by auction fever, publishers convince themselves that, despite profit-and-loss statement rated to determine a book's value, they pay whatever it takes to outbid their rivals.

23. The author wants to switch houses.

24. The editor discovers a book on a trip to a book fair and thinks it will sell, or is caught up in excitement surrounding a book, or wants to justify trip.

25. The publisher is sending industry message that because of new management or despite changes in house, houses a player.

26. The book being sold may not be a big one, but future books will have bestseller potential.

27. The author has a personal connection with someone in house with power to buy book.

28. Publishing book will enhance house's prestige.

This is not a definitive list. John Saul, a novelist, observed if publishers don't want to buy a book, they say "It's been done to death." If they do want to buy that book, they'll say, "Always works."

(c) copyright 2004, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.

It is acceptable to submit your work to more than one agent at a time, however, you should let them know your work has been sent to other agents.

Many agents will not accept queries by phone, fax or email, so you should use snail mail for all submissions. Upon request, you can submit additional information, such as writing sample and story synopsis.

Once you have retained services of an agent, you can expect them to provide guidance regarding quality and marketability of your work. According to AAR, your agent may:

•Offer editorial guidance. •Establish contacts for you with firms and persons who are acquiring rights to literary and/or dramatic material. •Advise you about current trends conditions, practices, and contractual terms. •Market your literary material and rights therein. Negotiate and review licensing agreements. •Review royalty statements. •Monitor licensees' marketing of your work.

Agent representation is valuable when it comes to submitting works to publishers. Publishers depend on agents as a first screen to marketable work. Inept agents who submit marginal work to a plethora of publishers will develop a poor reputation and likely be ignored. Agents must exercise discretion, and best agents will be highly selective when taking on new clients.

Holly Lisle, author of several published works including: Fire in Mist, Diplomacy of Wolves, Vengeance of Dragons, and Courage of Falcons offers advise on finding right agent @ http://hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/faqs3.html. “The majority of queries any agent receives---probably around 99%---are rejected because they lack whatever spark that agent is looking for. This doesn't mean they're hopeless---what is wrong for one agent might be right for another. Remember that agent you want will love genre you work in and know publishers and editors who publish it, and will love work you do. Make sure work you send out is your best, that it is professionally formatted, free of errors, and entirely yours.” She also recommends that you research type of work an agent represents. "Read their descriptions of what they're looking for and believe them---an agent who doesn't like science fiction won't like your science fiction, and won't appreciate having his time wasted by yet another beginner who has proved by querying him that he is a beginner, and worse yet, can't follow instructions.”

Do you still wonder whether or not you need an agent? I guess question to you would be: “Do you want to be a writer, or do you want to be an agent?” Lisle offers final bit of advice on subject: “Good agents do much more than find homes for manuscripts. If he (or she) did nothing more for you than remove bad clauses from contracts, agent would be worth his ten or fifteen percent.”

© Copyright 2004 Lisa Hood. All rights reserved.